Chance Encounters
by MLHawke
Summary: What happens when a Dalish Hero runs into Merrill on the streets of Kirkwall?


**Chance Encounter**

Authors Note: The title is a working title. I will take suggestions as the story progresses.

Bioware owns the Sandbox. They just let me play in it.

**Prologue**

The shemlen were racing towards the Dalish camp. Letharia saw them, and felt her heart quicken, but Tamlen was the first to step in. While Letharia tried to calm herself, Tamlen questioned the men. All she heard them saying was something about having a right to pass. It had been so long since her last interaction with a human that she'd almost written them off.

She gathered her wits about her, drew her bow, and stalked over to Tamlen.

"You're just in time," He says. "I found these _humans_ lurking in the bushes. Bandits, no doubt." Letharia nodded.

"We're not bandits, I swear!" The first of the three shemlen said. He looked younger than the others, since he was lacking facial hair. "They all look the same," Letharia thought. She couldn't keep one separate from another.

As she was observing the men, Tamlen continued talking. He was so intense; he had such a forceful way about him. She shook her head.

"What do you say, Letharia? What should we do with them?" She scarcely had a clue, but since she was his elder, by about a year, he differed to her.

"Let's at least find out what they're doing here." She replied, but her bow did not falter an inch.

Tamlen let out a scoff. "You're too soft on those humans."

The second man spoke of a ruin they had found, unlike any other they had ever seen. They thought there might be some kind of treasure down there. Tamlen accused them of being more like "thieves than bandits." Letharia was lost in thought; where could these ruins be? She wracked her brain. "…there's a demon down there…" She just came back to herself in time to hear them say. Tamlen seemed tempted to take the lives of these shemlens, but he held steady. One of them pulled out a rock with some writing on it and Tamlens interest piqued. He withdrew his bow, and Letharia followed suit.

"Is this Elvish? _Written _Elvish?" He handed the rock to Letharia, who turned it over in her hands a few times. "Fine, we'll go look for these ruins. You shem better run, and don't come back until the clan had moved on. He didn't have to tell the men twice, they turned and ran,

They agreed to find these ruins and inform Keeper Marathari of anything they find. They jogged most of the way, Letharias short red pony tail bobbing up and down as she ran. Tamlen seemed to remember that they were childhood friends, and every so often he would grab it as they ran. He liked to tease her for wearing her hair in such a simple manner, but she thought it was practical, if nothing else.

They fought through the large spiders in the entry way of the cave. Letharia cringed at the sight of spiders, especially large ones that were as tall as she. But what they saw inside was enough to make it worth it.

The ruins were not Elven, but the artifacts most likely were. Tamlen and Letharia made their way from room to room in awe of what they were seeing. Tamlen was convinced there was a statue of the gods that could date back to Arlathan.

Tamlen raced ahead, and Letharia shook her head at him. She couldn't believe he was so blind with excitement that he would charge into rooms and hallways blind, yet that's what he seemed to be doing. More spiders seemed to jump out of every corner, until Tamlen's discovery of walking skeletons.

"This place is haunted!" He yelled back at her, firing his bow toward the walking bones. They were dead by the time she caught up to him. She was quite glad to have missed seeing what those bones looked like walking around. There are some things that are just too unnatural to be seen. Tamlen seemed completely unfazed by the whole thing.

Until the bear – was it even a bear? – came charging after them. Letharia tried to reconcile her mind to what she was seeing, but she could not. This was a bear in shape and movement only, but it looked so grotesque in form that she couldn't believe it had ever once been a bear of the woods. Where had it come from?

She didn't have time to worry about that, the bear-monster was charging fast. Tamlen was knocked to the ground and it was on its way to her. She pulled her Dar'Misu's from her back and charged back, attacking with all her petite frame could manage. The bear clawed her shoulder, leaving what was sure to be a permanent scar. She bought just enough time for Tamlen to rise and shoot with his arrow, killing the beast.

Letharia let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in. "What _was_ that?" She gasped. Tamlen, who was almost panting, shook his head. Still breathing heavily, Letharia sheathed her daggers and place her hand on her bloody shoulder.

"A rodent of unusual size?" Tamlen joked. "That monster really got you, didn't he?" He pushed her other arm to turn her around. "Let me see it." He gasped at the sight of the wound.

"That – ouch! That bad, huh?"

"Well, we'll certainly want the keeper to look at it. Can you continue on, or should we go back?"

Letharia grabbed a potion out of her bag and drank it. It seemed to stop the bleeding, at least. "No, I can keep going for a bit." She put the empty flask in her pack.

"Okay good, because I started to see something in this room over here…" Tamlen continued talking as he walked away, and she was unable to make out the rest of what he said. She sighed and shook her head, following him into the next room.

"Hey!" His yell echoed against the walls. "Hey! Come see this!" She followed the sound of his voice into the room, where she saw a giant… mirror.

"Did you see that? I think… I think I saw something in it _move!"_ Letharia furrowed her brow, and leaned in for a better look.

"There it is again!" Tamlen exclaimed. This time, she saw it – ripples, like a drop on a pond. "I… I think it knows we're here!"

"I don't trust this mirror, Tamlen, and neither should you." Something about it made her shiver.

"It's showing me someplace… some kind of city… underground?" He looked toward her, and she shrugged. He looked back. "And there's… a great blackness…" He paused, looking into the mirror even more. She realized he was touching it, and the glass was rippling around his finger. She wanted to pull him away from it, get them out of that room. She knew in her very core that this was something evil, and that Keeper Marathari should know and that it should be sealed away for good. But the thoughts came too late.

"It… It saw me! Help! I can't look away!"

* * *

><p>His screams and the sudden blast that sent Letharia flying across the room was the last thing she remembered as she woke with a start.<p>

She rolled over in her bed, searching for her husband with her hands. When she found him, he was already sitting up ready to hold her.

The moonlight streamed through the window and glinted off the tears on her cheeks.

"You were screaming in your sleep again, love." His heavy Ferelden accent was soothing as he pulled her close. She laid her head in his lap, and he brushed her chin length blonde hair from her face, revealing her long slender ears.

"Alistair," She whimpered, "it was the Eluvian again. With Tamlen."

He sighed, leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "We need to resolve this. We need to find you some way to put this behind you." He put his hand over the scar on her shoulder.

She knew he was right. When it came to putting the past behind you, he was the master. But with his kind and gentle demeanor, he was not harsh about it.

Between the both of them, they had encountered more than enough hardships for two lifetimes. She was glad the Revered Mother had allowed the exception for the two of them to marry, so she could remain with him. Rebuilding the Fereldan Grey Wardens was urgent, and they were a team, a package deal. She knew if anyone could help her find the answers to moving on, it would be Alistair.


End file.
